How to study for biochemistry at RSU

I used to be terrified of biochemistry, because I didn’t know how to study for it. Every course has its own preferred way of studying, and for biochem I tried multiple ways.

First I tried just writing notes on my computer. While that could work for the last colloquium (Interim 4), it definitely wasn’t optimal for the pathway colloquiums (carbs, proteins, lipids).

Now I will admit: everyone has their own way of studying. Some people study by watching the lectures while taking notes on the side. For this, you can use Goodnotes (app). Download the lecture pdf and export it to Goodnotes. Write notes on the side of it while listening. Then you can refer back to your notes when studying for the colloquium.

I personally don't really like this technique, because it takes so much time to go through one lecture! A 45 minute lecture quickly turns into a 4 hour lecture. But some people prefer this method, so I chose to include it here.

But now for how I study. This semester I had my lessons at 8:00 Monday morning (horrible, I know). So the weekend prior, I would look up the topic. For example, it could be protein metabolism. Then I search Ninja Nerd on YouTube, and watch his video on it, while writing the same thing he does on the board as notes, by hand.

You could do this on an ipad, but I personally preferred just notebooks. Then, once finished, I would read the lecture pdf while looking at my already written notes, and write down what I hadn’t.

Don't worry about your notes looking perfect. You most likely won't even remember perfectly what's happening in the scheme when you look back to it. You just need to do it enough times that you start remembering the molecule/enzyme names.

I highly recommend doing the seminar tasks for each week, even if your professor doesn’t go through them in class. They’re very useful. I usually do them with my notes in front of me so I understand.

Then, before the colloquium, I would take the lecture slides as well as the colloquium instruction document and demo colloquium to claude, and ask it to make me a mock colloquium. I would do the mock colloquium first with notes open. Then I’d ask it to make another, which I do with notes closed. Then, finally I would just draw the pathways over and over again on this little tablet thing. You can get one I think from flying tiger for a couple euros. You could also do this on an ipad or paper. This way in the colloquium I felt prepared.

The demo colloquium in estudies is SUPER important!!! The open questions (e.g. ETC pathway schematic) is almost guaranteed to be an open question in the colloquium. So DO the demo colloquium and LEARN the open questions!!

It’s normal to not find the perfect study technique at first. This is what worked for me, as a very visual and hands-on learner. If this doesn't work for you, something else is bound to work.

If you want to read more about my study techniques, check out these blog posts: